British heavy metal legends JUDAS PRIEST are contemplating legal action against Gap over a t-shirt design that was recently sold by the American clothing and accessories retailer that bore more than a passing resemblance to the cover artwork of the classic PRIEST album “Screaming For Vengeance”.

The Gap design, which has since been removed from the company’s web site, and the “Screaming For Vengeance” t-shirt can be seen below in a side-by-side comparison.

Speaking to The Quietus, JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford said, “Well, it’s very naughty of [Gap]. They shouldn’t have done that and we’re investigating that right now because that’s intellectual-property rights. We were never asked [for permission for the image to be used by Gap], [and] neither was our label. Having said that, pushing the legal side of it to one side, it’s brilliant, isn’t it? To think that something 30-odd years later is still striking enough to be a fashion moment — it’s a bit like when the vodka people [Absolut Vodka] did the ‘British Steel’ label.”

He added, “The thing is with artwork is that I don’t think that you can underestimate its power. Like, you’ll see somebody walking down the street with a CANNIBAL CORPSE T-shirt on, if you say to them: ‘Oh, I love that band,’ they’ll go, ‘What band?’ And if you say: ‘The T-shirt,’ they’ll probably say, ‘Oh, I just like it!’ And I think that’s great, because again you’re making a visual, emotional connection with people; that’s what ‘Screaming For Vengeance’ is doing all these years later.”

JUDAS PRIEST‘s eighth studio album, “Screaming For Vengeance”, was released as a special 30th-anniversary edition on September 4 (one day earlier internationally) via Sony Music. The set contains not only the remastered original album plus bonus tracks, but also a live DVD from the 1983 US Festival show, filmed in San Bernadino, California on May 29, 1983.